Aquaculture in Malaysia, “this opportunity has inspired me to broaden my avenues for post graduate opportunities”

February 11, 2025

The Crawford Fund’s highly sought after Student Awards are one way we support and encourage the next generation of Australians into study, careers and volunteering in international agricultural research.

The awards are funded by our State and Territory Committees and made possible by organisations including ACIAR, international centres, Australian and overseas universities and NGOs who host our awardees.

Applications for the 2025 Student Awards, and the inaugural Henzell Awards are now open for students at Australian universities!

Sixteen talented university students from around Australia were awarded our 2023 Student Awards. As part of this cohort, we would like to share the experience of Ella McLennan, a Masters Student in Marine and Antarctic Science at the University of Tasmania, who travelled to WorldFish in Malaysia to learn about a range of aquaculture projects and research happening across the global south.

“Initially my project proposed visits to working field sites with Worldfish at both their HQ in Penang, Malaysia and in Borneo. However due to unforeseen circumstances, I was able to attend the 2024 International Institute of Fisheries, Economics and Trade (IFFET ) conference and IDCR-CRDI (International Development Research Centre) – AQUAdapt Peer Learning Workshop in Penang, Malaysia instead,” explained Ella.

“The two week visit allowed me to network, and learn about a range of aquaculture projects and the research happening across the global south, and gain extensive insight into the possibilities of aquaculture in international development and its role in combating our greatest agriculture and food security issues going into the future,” said Ella.

“I spent the first week of my visit attending the IFFET Conference. In collaboration with WorldFish, I was invited to attend the Executive Committee meeting prior to the commencement of the event. This was an exciting opportunity to see the inner workings/preparation behind such a large cross-continental conference and build upon my own professional skillset through networking and minute taking,” she said.

“Moving onto the conference itself – it was an exciting four days to see some of the incredible work researchers, and industry are doing globally to promote sustainable, and economical fisheries and aquaculture across the global south and beyond. It was an incredible opportunity to network. Some of the highlights included talks around policy frameworks, gender equality and incentivising/retaining women in aquaculture and climate adaptive/resilient technologies such as seaweed aquaculture and mangrove conservation,” said Ella.

“On the final day of the conference, I was invited to attend a Nyonya cooking class with local woman Pearly Kee – this was a fantastic opportunity to visit the local Pulau Tikus market, pick out fresh produce including dried cuttlefish, local fish (seabass) varieties, and freshly crushed spices. We then went back to Pearly’s cooking school and shared a variety of dishes – a fantastic opportunity to learn about the unique culinary history of Malaysia and the local region, and to reaffirm the importance of aquaculture in their diets, and its importance in culture beyond just sustenance.”

“The next part of the trip was the AQUADAPT Peer Learning Workshop hosted by WorldFish, in partnership with IDRC Canada. This was a smaller set of workshops, however a fantastic opportunity to see the amazing work each project team was working on, and how collaboration and professional development through these workshops could promote better research and outcomes for each research team,” said Ella.

“I was fortunate enough to be based with Eddie Allison (WorldFish) and his team across their projects in both the Solomon Islands and Malaysia. This opportunity granted me real world insight into what effective project management looks like, and how collaboration between researchers can be facilitated in a fun, effective and impactful way. Our projects looked at nature-based solutions to issues related to aquaculture expansion in the Malaysian peninsula and Solomon Islands (ie: mangrove loss, fortifying indigenous species biodiversity etc), and how we can escalate them from definitions/ideas to measurable criteria and to achievable/defined outcomes,” she said.

On the final day of the workshop the group went on a field visit to an oyster farm and a tour of an oyster hatchery facility, looking at the entire oyster value chain, offering valuable insight into the local production process and the challenges and best practices to ensure the highest quality product, and how those methods are shifting to more sustainable, nature-based practices explained Ella.

“This Student Award experience gave me an opportunity to see the unique importance and diversity of aquaculture and fisheries research far beyond that of my local domestic knowledge. This opportunity has inspired me to broaden my avenues for post graduate opportunities, and potentially look further abroad for opportunities in my scientific career,” she said.

“This opportunity has also strengthened many of my soft skills such as networking, minute taking and communications, which I can use in my own professional career going forward,” she concluded.